Dump-car construction.



R. V. SAGE.

DUMP CAR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLlCATlON FILED DEC. 3|} 1912.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

COLUMBIA PLANoaRAm-l CO.,WASHINOTON, D. c.

RALPH V. OF WESTMONT'BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

DUMP-CAR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 0ct.'26, 1915.

Application filed December 31, 1912. Serial No. 739,445.

0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH V. SAGE, a

citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Nestmont, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Dump-Car Construction; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in car construction and more especially to the manner of mounting the operating shafts for car door mechanism.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide center bearings for operating shafts for car door mechanism, preferably of the hopper bottom type, which will be simple in construction, cheap to manufacture, light in weight, but of suflicient rigidity and strength to withstand the pressures and shocks produced by the weight of the doors, connections and lading, or those due to charging or discharging the lading.

I accomplish this by attaching directly to the inner side of the hopper sheets a flat plate, preferably of rolled steel or other metal, having considerable thickness and of polygonal or of substantially rectangular outline, with the corners clipped therefrom to provide a close fit on the car, and lightness of construction, while preserving the strength, economy and utility of these bearing plates.

Another object of my invention is to reinforce and stiffen the end of the connecting lever or link which is pivotally attached to the crank arm and adapted to swing over and beyond the operating shaft when the doors are closed, whereby the increased strength and weight will hold the door more securely closed and prevent undue deflection of the bent end of said lever.

Having thus given a general description of my imvention, I will now, in order to make the matter more clear, refer to the one sheet of drawings accompanying this specification in which like characters of reference indicate like parts Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional elevation of a portion of a hopper bottom car taken on the line 11 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional elevation taken on the line II--II of Fig. 1

through the center of a car looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation showing a portion of a center sill and enough of the intermediate part of the hopper sheet to illustrate the position of my plate bearing member which is attached to it. Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation of a portion of the outside of the hopper to which is attached the casting which forms a bearing for the outer end of the operating shaft, on which shaft is mounted a ratchet which engages a pawl pivoted to the bearing casting, which pawl is'held against displacement by a locking dog, also pivotallymounted on said bearing casting, by means of which the operating shaft is held in locked position when the door is closed.

Referring now to the various characters of reference on the drawings :1 indicates the car door operating shaft having its outer bearing in a casting 2 riveted to the outside hopper sheet 3 and its inner end and intermediate portion mounted in bearings 4 and 5 respectively, which are preferablyformed of flat rolled steel or other metal, and attached to the inner side of the inside hopper sheets 6 on either side of the center sills 7. These inside hopper sheets 6 extend upwardly on either side of the center sills 7, their upper ends being bent inwardly at an angle, and to which the downwardly extending ends of the central ridge 8 of the car are riveted.

The bearings 4 and 5 are each made of a flat plate of polygonal or of substantially rectangular form with the upper and lower corners clipped therefrom, said bearings being attached to the inner hopper sheets 6 opposite the center sills by rivets, as shown, while a cylindrical hole or bearing 9 is provided in each plate in which the operating shaft 1 is journaled. Mounted upon the operating shaft between these two bearings 4: and 5 and spaced apart therefrom by means of sleeves 10 and keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to the shaft to prevent turning, is a crank arm 11, bifurcated at its outer end to receive the upper enlarged curved end 12 of a lever or connecting link 13 which is pivoted thereto by means of a pin 20, while the opposite end of the con-,

necting link 13 is pivotally attached to the door spreader bar 14 by the means of the eye bolt 15, provided with a pivot pin 21.

The outer end of the operating shaft 1 which is journaled in the casting 2' on the outside hopper sheet 3 extends beyond the same and is squared as shown at 16 to receive the sprocket 17; A pawl 18 adapted to engage with the sprocket 17 and a looking dog 19 adapted to cooperate therewith are pivoted on the casting '2, by means of which the operating shaft may be locked to prevent the accidental opening of the doors after they have been closed.

By forming the center bearings for the operating shaft from plain flat steel plates, as above described, very cheap and effective journals and supports are provided. The peculiar formation of the curved upper end 12 of the connecting link 13, which is thrown over the operating shaft when the doors are closed, insures that the doors will remain closed, even if the locking mechanism at the outer end of the shaft becomes disarranged, as the increased weight and stiffness of said end will hold it in place as shown in Fig. 1. The shape and general conformation of the curved end 12 of the connecting link 13 is such that when the door is closed, the line of pull from the door, which extends from the center of the pivot pin 20 to the center of the pivot 21, passes below the crank shaft 1, so that a pull from the door tending to open the same by swinging it downwardly, will not open said door, but will cause the connecting link 13 to press downwardly more firmly against the hub of the crank 11 and thereby hold the door tightly closed, and this action is aided by the weight and stiffness of the curved end 12 of the connecting link, as before noted.

While I have shown and described my invention in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact construction specified,'but may use such substitutions, inodifications or alterations as fall within the scope of my invention as set forth in the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a hopper car, a pair of flat rolled metal plates disposed one on each side of the center sills with their upper edges attached to the inside hopper sheets and extending downwardly therefrom, an operating shaft having its hearings in the pair of flat rolled plates, a crank arm mounted upon the operating shaft spaced centrally thereon by means of loose sleeves between the pair of flat rolled metal plates and a connecting link having an enlarged upper end pivoted thereto, the other end of said link being pivoted to the car doors.

2. In a hopper car, a pair of flat rolled metal plates disposed one on each side of the center sills with their upper edges attached to the inside hopper sheets and extending downwardly therefrom longitudinally of the car, an operating shaft having its inner bearings in the pair of flat rolled metal plates, a crank arm mounted upon the operating shaft and spaced thereon by means of loose sleeves between the pair of fiat plates, a connecting link having one end pivoted to the crank arm and its opposite end to the car doors, said connecting link having its upper end curved and enlarged,

whereby the accidental opening of the doors is prevented.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

RALPH V. SAGE. Vitnesses ELMER SEAVEY, ROBERT A. BEER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

' Washington, D. G. 

